– Saul William’s Punk Attack without Instruments
What better way to kick off Riot Fest than with some spoken word poetry, right? If the massive carnival skyscraping from the festival grounds didn’t make it evident enough, this punk haven has a fancy for expanding the psyche of festival attendees. Saul Williams did just that by pronouncing realizations that affect our everyday lives, whether it’s racial division, disfunctionality of war, or other social problems that split the seams of our society. Plenty of bands infuse their music with political critiques, but Williams jolted each lyric with effortless precision, whether he was scanning from a book or lifting his message from memory. Instead of brushing it off like any other bullshit, punk fans broke their fists into the sky and yelled with the same yearning in support of his message. An a-typical start to the fest? Absolutely, but it was perfect in it’s own way.
– Andrew WK Brings the “Riot”
Fans were ready for an epic weekend as soon as they stepped into the festival, but Andrew WK truly brought party to Riot Fest. As the performance kicked off with enthusiastic claps echoing the bass drum on stage, the band proceeded to rip into distorted guitar riffs that made hearts jump and crowd bodies celebrate profusely. Andrew and his crew fancied their performance in honor of the 10th anniversary of his sophomore album of The Wolf, and it couldn’t ever been a better place to celebrate. “It’s a good day not to be dead!” WK pronounced while soaking in the positivity generated from the crowd and contributing back himself.
Though it’s easy to put off WK for being nothing but a party animal, it’s hard to ignore his clear vocal cries to party and the wave of guitar magic sprawled from the four guitarists and surround band on stage. Even though the same sweat to party drips from nearly every song, the talent running through every performer made the point renewing and exciting, stemming from every hilariously-ironic guitar screech or dominant gang vocal. It’s easy to say that Andrew WK kicked off Riot Fest on the best foot possible.
– Nostalgic Moment- Singing “Ocean Avenue” with Yellowcard
As I walked back to the Roots stage for Bad Religion’s set, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to peer an ear over to Yellowcard. While the bulk of their set was probably solid, recalling their Ocean Avenue hits “Only One” and “Ocean Avenue” served a platter of nostalgia that the crowd couldn’t get enough of. Their opening strums influenced the crowd to mentally travel back to 2003 and sing like they waited over 10 years to do so. As they strummed through the last catchy chorus of “Ocean Avenue”, I walked to the Roots stage and continued to sing, where surrounding fans smiled at me and fashioned their greatest pop star impressions. Yellowcard proved to be a heart-warming surprised that most would have never anticipated.
– Bad Religion, your punk genius is showing
Riot Fest was the punk outfit’s return to United States after touring Europe for the past six-months or so, and they couldn’t be happier to do so. While they were most happy to speak a language that they could “almost understand”, as they commented, they pronounced a legendary punk dialogue that unleashed the strongest performance of Friday. Grey hairs aside, Bad Religion cruised through their set with confident finesse as they ran through favorites like “You”, “No Direction”, and “Infected as well as some fresh cuts from their latest album, True North. Their in-sync precision made it an easy to be assigned as the strongest performance of the day.
– Butter Statmos- As Smooth as Uncle Jessie
Whether it’s his role as Uncle Jess on Full House or classic vocal contributions to The Beach Boys’ “Forever” or the TV sensation The Rippers, everyone knows the face of actor John Stamos. The festival stumbled along a random-but-awesome thought and decided to commemorate the prime time actor with the fattiest substance possible, butter. Food artist Jim Vector, also known as the “Jay-Z of food art, carved the handsome sculpture throughout the weekend in an air-conditioned trailer, constantly smoothing out his lush skin and carving the textures along his hair and vest to a tee. There was never a dull moment at the sculpture’s abode, where fans took pictures with their brightest and confused smiles. The random charade even gained the real-life Stamos’ approval,
– Fan Attraction of the Day- #KeepOnWalken
Crowd signs will always be at festivals, but some should never be overlooked. Despite holding it all day, it’s an easy way to find your pack of concert friends and even evoke a couple of laughs along the way. One sign did just that was titled “#KeepOnWalken”, a command to oblivious concertgoers foolishly navigating through the crowd enforced none of than Christopher Walken. Thanks to impressive printers, the face of the sign shared a pristinely clear portrait of the actor that gleamed in the sunlight. His blue eyes were soothing yet intimidating, making it difficult to decided to keep on walking or stop and stare. If the sign talked, it would probably command fans to keep on walking unless he would “stab you in the face with a soldering iron.” Pesky concertgoers, you have been warned.